Pragmatism and Prostitution

Most people still seem a little bit jet-lagged, but everyone is still trying hard to get into the swing of things. This was evident during class, as we started out the day with a guest lecture on prostitution; even though a couple of people struggled to stay awake, it definitely wasn't because of a lack of interest about the topic.

Prostitution has only been legal in the Netherlands since 2000, and has also been decriminalized in Hungary, Germany, New Zealand and certain parts of Australia, although technically most countries allow sex work in some form or another through escort agencies, strip clubs, etc., and there are sex worker advocacy groups in every country. Sex workers in the Netherlands, on average, see 4.3 clients a day (6.5 if working windows, 2.2 if working as an escort are the high and low averages). They make 35-50 Euros for 15-20 minutes of work, leading to average earnings of 1095 Euros a week, a large number when compared to the average Dutch citizen, who makes 1300 Euros a month. Sex work is therefore a rather lucrative enterprise, which is witnessed also by the fact that a majority of surveyed sex workers admitted that money played some part in their decision to get into the industry. Sex workers pay taxes and are able to deduct business expenses.

I interrupt my thrilling list of statistics to put the reasoning for the legalization of prostitution into a context, namely the context of Seattle; as mentioned in the previous post, there are many things that set the Dutch apart from the rest of the world and lead people to consider them a bastion of liberal ideals, and this is mostly due to their pragmatism. The presentation we were given on the first day was about American moral values (the Bible says) vs. Dutch pragmatism (the practical approach) as the underlying theories in policy making. I definitely saw more of Seattle in the pragmatic approach, rather than the moral approach, which is furthered by a comparison of their history of sex work. Seattle in the early 1900's was a stopping point for men headed towards Alaska for the gold rush, and like any good port town, soon had a thriving sex industry. Understanding that it would be impossible to crack down on the 2,700 sex workers who had set up shop in the area, city officials created a special district for the women. Because prostitution was still considered morally reprehensible by the general public, the women were portrayed as seamstresses, and like the many women I have seen over the past few days, modeled scanty garments in the windows of their "storefronts". Pragmatically enough, however, city officials charged a "sewing machine tax" which provided a large percentage of Seattle city income for a few years. So Seattle city officials, realizing that they couldn't keep prostitution at bay, tood the somewhat pragmatic approach and let prostitution continue, even profiting off of it, but tempered this with good old American morality by pretending these women weren't actually prostitutes, but seamstresses.

Dutch pragmatism seems like it can also be explained by this quote, from Another Roadside Attraction by Pacific Northwest author Tom Robbins:

"Man is not as good as he thinks he is. (Nor as bad, for that matter, but let’s not complicate things.) He has certain needs, demands certain services which in reality are probably healthy and natural, but to which in time’s passage and as a result of odd quirks in his ethos, he has ascribed (or allowed his religious leaders- often guilt warped, psychopathic misfits- to ascribe) negative values. In the queerest of paradoxical metamorphoses, honest desires change into taboos. To simply “say” that a desire is immoral- or, resorting to even flimsier abstraction, to deem the fulfillment of a desire illegal- does not eliminate the desire. It does not eliminate anything except straightforwardness. "

Between this pragmatic viewpoint, the rain, the friendly yet withdrawn people, excess of bikes, and strange fish dishes, I basically feel like I have reached Seattle in some sort of alternate universe where I can't figure out what I am buying at the grocery store (does anyone need a liter of buttermilk?) and there aren't advertisements on every single available surface.

Which leads me into my project, which is supposedly about women's portrayal in advertising. I decided to do this project because I am interested in women's rights issues and also media studies, so I thought it was a nice mix. I didn't want to do any sort of typical study of the Dutch (men marrying men! euthanasia! prostitution! drugs!) because I thought perhaps these were overstudied and overhyped issues. However, it is impossible for me to explain how omnipresent these things seem to be, except for by spitting out more statistics:

Number of transgendered people seen today: 7

Number of men Rollerblading in gold thongs: 1

Number of "coffee shops" passed today: 15

Number of bongs: Too many to count

Number of booths selling pornography in public markets during middday: 1, possibly 2, although we did only go to one small market.

Etc.

Perhaps what I am trying to say is that in the touristy center of Amsterdam that our group has mostly seen, what you expect from Amsterdam is exactly what you get, and I'm a little bit disappointed that I didn't fully take advantage of the fact that the Netherlands are so different in planning my research.

I'm also disappointed that I didn't join the squatting group. Another thing that the Dutch approach pragmatically is using space; thus, squatting is legal if a building is not in use for a certain period of time. Today after our lecture a group of us simply wandered the streets of Amsterdam eating "frites" (the Dutch specialty of French Fries, ours sans the Dutch specialty of a heaping scoop of mayonaise), ordered bikes (a necessity here, it is beginning to appear), attended the previously mentioned market, and then made our way to a squat for dinner. For 6 to 10 Euros (payment on a sliding scale) each person got delicious soup with green onions, followed by a plate of stir fried veggies, tofu, and rice with peanut sauce, and then, for 1.5o more, the most healthy/best tasting dessert I have ever eaten, a blueberry cream pie with a thick wheaty crust. I'm really jealous of the community that is built around these squats, and also of Isaac, Fiona and Cassie, who are studying them/eating more delicious vegan food in the next month.

Sorry about the poor video lighting, for some reason there were no lights really turned on in the squat, and I was also trying to keep a low profile with the camera.